asian jewish deli

A few weeks ago Madeline and I went to Quinn’s before the Sounders FC match, and she ordered calamari, one of the night’s specials. Ever since then, there has been a persistant request that I make calamari at home, and today ended up being the day.

I had never made calamari before, but I knew that I preferred a dry breading as opposed to a wet batter, and that I would accompany it with a homemade aioli. Central Market has frozen squid in one pound blocks that are cleaned and ready to cut and cook after thawing. The breading I made up was a mixture of about half flour, half corn meal, with salt, some dried parsley, cayenne, and Old Bay seasoning.

The aioli was made with garlic confit that I had started earlier in the day, the resulting garlic infused oil, an egg, salt, and some rind of preserved lemon.

The calamari ended up with a great crispy crust, tender meat, and perfect seasoning. I served it along side clams marinières with soffritto, which I will cover in a future post. The combo must have been good, because it got me a handmade “best dinner award” from Madeline.

A swim meet was the reason for our second visit to Portland in a month (see pictures from our first trip here). With lots of downtime between watching synchronized swimming routines, we were able to get away to some highly recommended restaurants that we hadn’t the chance to try yet.

After a trip to the Oregon Zoo, the team decided to stop at Big Red’s Restaurant. While I would never have chosen a place like this if it was just us, Big Red’s provided a kid-friendly menu and was close to both the zoo and the hotel. Jennifer and I shared a salad to be somewhat healthy before what we knew would be a calorie-heavy weekend. We dropped Madeline off at the team’s hotel and went off to check into The Nines, a posh new hotel in downtown Portland. (There is a velvet rope on weekend evenings, since the two restaurants have become a popular scene.)

Following the salad at Big Red’s, we were ready for real dinner at our favorite Kenny & Zuke’s, where we both ordered our standby must-have dishes, a pastrami Reuben with chopped liver, and latkes. The portions at K&Z are huge, and always provide great leftovers for late-night snacks. The pastrami this time around was heavy on smoke, which I like a lot, but seemed to be lighter on the cured flavor. It was also a bit stringy, but maybe I got the last section of this particular brisket. (I was so hungry that I forgot to take pictures, but see the bottom of this post for a different latke shot.) I drank a Cock ‘n Bull Ginger Beer, which was good but I was looking for a super heavy ginger bite which this did not have. Nothing so far has beat Blenheim #3 HOT in ginger spicyness.

Saturday morning started with Stumptown coffee from our hotel, then we were off to Simpatica for brunch. Their brunch menu changes weekly, but always contains fried chicken & waffles as well as various breakfast stratas. I went in set on getting chicken & waffles, but was wooed by their chicken friend bison steak with roasted potatoes, country gravy, and two eggs easy.

I have always been disappointed by chicken fried steak when I order it in restaurants… until now! Although bison is very lean, it stayed tender and was very flavorful. Jennifer ordered Belgian waffles with bitter orange marmalade, creme Chantilly, and house made fennel sausage. I was able to sneak some off her plate, making a delicious combination of chicken fried steak & waffles. (Possibly better than fried chicken & waffles!)

Accompanying breakfast was more coffee and a decent bloody Mary. We shared our four-top with a local couple that seemed to approve of our eating plans, and provided us with some additional recommendations.

After Simpatica, we visited the farmer’s market at Portland State University. This farmer’s market came highly recommeded by everybody, and I can see why. It was huge, despite still being early in the season, and had lunch-cart style prepared food as well as the usual produce and local producer stands. I sampled a delicious country pate from Chop Butchery & Charcuterie and immediately bought a slice to take home.

We had a few minutes before we had to be at the pool, so we stopped at Pix Patisserie to pick up some desserts for later. We ended up with a tube of macarons and an Amelié: glazed chocolate mousse with caramelized hazelnuts, praline crisp, and Cointreau génoise topped with orange vanilla creme brulee.

From the front: salted caramel, creme de mure, margarita (tequilla, Cointreau, lime, dusted with salt.. sorry, but this was not good), kalamansi lime, blueberry, and cassis violet.

It was time to head to the pool. We ended up staying nearly five hours there, and left pretty hungry. Luckily, SandwichWorks (Kenny & Zuke’s new shop) was close! I ordered three sandwiches for first dinner. First up was the Chicago Italian beef with house made giardiniera and dunked in jus. This was spectacular! The jus was extra garlicy and the bread was still toothy even after being dipped.

The Hood River is more of a regular type sandwich, with turkey, aged cheddar, stone ground mustard, and thin sliced granny smith apple.

Popular opinion holds the meatball hero as the favorite at SandwichWorks, and I can see why. The meatballs were soft and tender, yet held their shape, and the sauce tasted like it had been simmering for hours. Meatball sandwiches are never very photogenic, but it tasted great!

For some reason, I thought it would be smart (or more likely, healthy) to go for a jog not long after consuming the sandwiches above. I made it a full 5k, but I don’t recommend exercising after visiting SandwichWorks.

Second dinner on Saturday took us to Tanuki, now one of my new favorite restaurants. Tanuki is a tiny, dark 16 seat bar with only three tables. They close around 10, and we arrived just before the kitchen shut down. Not knowing how large the plates were, and with the fact that they were out of some items, we ended up ordering light. Next time we’ll go earlier and either get the omakase or load up on more menu items. Since it was dark, these pictures didn’t come out very well. First up, two maguro shiro onigiri (spicy white tuna rice ball) and their last uni onigiri (urchin). The spicy tuna ball was really good and left me wanting more. The uni was very fresh and I would have ordered additional if they had not run out.

Next was Kyushu hamachi sashimi with true wasabi. Very fresh, sweet, and the true wasabi was a reminder of how bad the fake “wasabi” is at most sushi places.

We finished off with sake dengaku, seared wild Chinook salmon with a roasted eggplant miso puree and asparagus tip salad. This was the most assertive dish of the night, and was very substantial and satisfying.

I enjoyed the meal paired with watari bune nama sake, a fresh, unfiltered, unpasturized sake that is made from an ancient strain of rice and only in the spring. It is difficult to find in the United States because it needs to be constantly refrigerated and is considered spoiled if it stays unchilled for more than five hours. It was full of fresh apple and pear flavors, without any of the oiliness or soapiness that are associated with cheap sakes. I need to find a store in Seattle that carries this!

Sunday was our last day in Portland and was a double whammy, combining an early start with several hours at the pool. More Stumptown coffee accompanied pastries from Ken’s Artisan Bakery. Jennifer got a plain butter croissant and I got a ham, Gruyere, and thyme croissant.

Everyone seems to rave that Ken’s has the best pastries in Portland, and while they are good, they are not as good as Cafe Besalu in Seattle. The dough seems to not have as much butter in it, and the ham was too moist to be included inside a pastry. Besalu uses drier ham cut smaller, and places most of it on the outside of the pastry. On the plus side, Ken’s has a nice deep brown exterior without being too crusty. (I know I’ll get shit for this but what can I say, I like a croissant with a softer outside. I also don’t like super crusty baguettes. Ooh, disowned by the foodie community now.)

In order to make up for our lack of Kenny & Zuke’s in the last trip, we decided to hit them up once more on our way out of town. Madeline ordered latkes, Jennifer ordered a plain begal with lox and the works, and I got a pastrami burger and fries. The burger was far beyond the medium-rare that I ordered it, but otherwise was delicious with the pastrami and sweet pickles.

I also got one more “vegetable” item, Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray, the only celery flavored soda that I know of. Perfect with the pastrami!

Considering the numerous hours that we had to spend at the pool, I think we hit a good number of restaurants in this trip. At least I was able to cross off one (Tanuki) from my long standing must-visit list, and I was very glad to be able to visit K&Z’s new shop. Even after four or five trips in the last year, I have yet to go to Apizza Scholls, Podnah’s Pit, Clarkweis, Meat Cheese Bread, Evoe… the list goes on and on. Next time!

This week, I’m planning on making another batch of pastrami using slabs of shortrib meat, and I have had a request to make calamari as well as fish & chips. Check back with the asian jewish deli for that!

2.5+ pounds of cheese and three sticks of butter wrapped in a pound of phyllo has to be good, right?

Um, yes.

Click here for the recipe. I used Valbreso feta, a French cheese made of milk left over from Roquefort production. It is the most delicious feta I’ve had, without the over saltiness that most fetas suffer from. Drizzled on top is a local blackberry honey to complete the salty-sweet combo. (Even more amazing with white truffle honey!)

A roast chicken has to be one of the easiest dinners I can think of. While some go through great lengths to modify the chicken—brining, rubbing butter under the skin, stuffing with aromatics—I keep it very simple. My chickens get no more treatment than a trussing, patting dry, a heavy sprinkling of kosher salt, and a hot 450° oven for around 45 minutes. No basting. The result is delicious with thin crispy salty skin, moist meat, and is as simple as it can get.

Last night I did something a little different, lining the bottom of the skillet with baguette slices. These absorbed up all of the fat and juices from the bird, turning golden crisp on the bottom and soft on top like stuffing. I could probably eat these savory croutons by themselves (and nearly did eat an entire baguettes worth). Besides being a perfect accompaniment to the chicken, the bread prevented the bird from sticking to the pan. Easy cleanup!

The bones and carcass from this chicken will join others that I have saved in the freezer to make chicken stock this weekend. Stay tuned for that.

Gin & tonic is one of my favorite mixed drinks ever. When done right it is a perfect balance of floral, tart, sweet, and bitter.

Ever since it became available last year, I have been stocking my bar with gin from Dry Fly, one of only two distilleries in Washington state. They make their gin (and vodka, and a whiskey soon) from Washington winter wheat infused with juniper, dried Washington apple, mint, and hops. The resulting spirit has a heady aroma and is deliciously complex.

It would be a shame to mix an artisan gin with something as mundane as Schweppes, but it is typically the only tonic water available at the grocery store.  I have had some handmade tonics that have been great, such as the one at Branzino in Seattle and Teardrop Lounge in Portland, and some that have been not so great (Clyde Common‘s in Portland was disgustingly piney and resinous). The best tonic I have found in stores is Fever Tree, available at Whole Foods.

Hand-made, Fever Tree blends coriander oil, lime oil, African marigold, Kenyan bitter orange oil, cane sugar, and the quinine from Cinchona ledgeriana, aka the fever tree. The result is a tonic water that is tart and sweet, with a noticably bitter finish. I actually would prefer that it would be slightly less sweet, but at least it does not have the syrupy sweetness that most tonics have.

The botanical flavors complement the herbal Dry Fly perfectly. Top with a squeeze of lime, and you have one of the most refreshing drinks for the summer!

Last Friday we packed up the dogs and took a road trip down to Portland. Although we had no set agenda, there were two newish restaurants that I wanted to visit and we planned trips to a couple dog parks to keep the wieners happy.

First up was Bunk Sandwiches. In my experience, a good sandwich shop is difficult to find (as evidenced by Seattle’s newest, Homegrown). The sample menu on Bunk’s site, along with numerous blog postings showed promise and what appeared to be exciting sandwiches, such as pork belly Reubens, beef tongue, marrow & snails, and oxtail confit. We arrived right as a line began forming out the door. That day’s menu was slightly disappointing, with none of the more “exotic” sandwiches available. We settled on a PBLT (pork belly, lettuce, green tomato) and a braised pork shoulder torta with cotija, avocado, black beans, and radishes. Their potato salad with bacon and egg had been recommended on a few blogs, so I ordered a side of that as well.

The PBLT was good, with the pork belly simply roasted and lots of mayo. It was served on what seemed like supermarket sourdough, which added a bit of charm. The torta was also good, but the cheese/avocado/bean mixture muddled the flavors a little. The potato salad was unremarkable and not worth a picture. I would go back to try other sandwiches (hoping for more exciting menu selections).

Next stop after a visit to the dog park was a place that was recommended to Jennifer, Helen Bernhard Bakery. We ordered a surprisingly heavy and tasty slice of apple pastry. Their cases were full of cakes, pastries, and breads that looked great.

We took the dogs to a different dog park and walked them around Hillsborough Stadium in order to tire them out so they would sleep through our dinner at Ping, the sister restaurant to the awesome south Portland Pok Pok.

We arrived in the middle of happy hour and ordered a number of items off the discounted menu as well as from the regular menu.

Spicy house roasted red peanuts with lime leaf, chilies, garlic, and sea salt.

Chicken breast skewer with sour Japanese plum sauce and shiso.

Wild-caught gulf prawn skewer with sea salt, black pepper, and lime.

Deep fried quail with salted plum sauce.

Bak kut teh (pork bone tea) with ribs and Chinese donut

Rice soup in pork broth

Ju pa bao (Macau-style pork chop bun). Pork chop fried in lard.

Ruam mitt

Overall, Ping was very good, although probably not very authentic. I was most looking forward to trying to fried quail, and it did not disappoint. The pork bone tea had a bit too much soy sauce in it which covered up the porkyness I was hoping for. The simplicity of the fried pork chop bun (bone-in pork, buttery bun, no adornment)  made it my favorite dish of the night and a must order (in multiples) next time I am in town. I must not have been paying too close of attention to the dessert menu, because I hear they have a duck egg poached in coconut milk that I would have definitely ordered had I noticed it.

What did the dogs do during our dinner?

Zoey snuggled up in a blanket with her favorite ball and took a nap. Oscar gave up on whining and took his spot up next to the rear window so he could keep an eye out for us to come back and rescue him.

Portland is one of my favorite food towns and it was nice to get away for the day and try some new restaurants. With places like Kenny & Zuke’s, Toro Bravo, and Le Pigeon, even taking a day trip to Portland is worth the time and drive from Seattle. I’ll be back down there the weekend of April 25 and look forward to trying K&Z’s second shop, SandwichWorks.

The weather today was amazing! I made burgers tonight to celebrate the upcoming spring/summer season. I always grind my own beef, using shortrib. The beef ends up being around 30-40% fat, resulting in a delicious, moist, and fatty burger. I season before grinding the meat, and always add a secret ingredient—anchovies.  The anchovy helps with seasoning and adds a noticeable hit of umami to the patties.

Tonight’s burgers were 3 oz and on Oroweat potato dinner rolls, small enough that I consider them sliders. From top to bottom: toasted potato roll, my own bacon onion jam (amazing, to toot my own horn), raw paper thin onion, Tillamook cheddar cheese, ground shortrib cooked medium-rare, black pepper, Kewpie mayo, potato roll. Sometimes I add romaine, tomato, or bacon but these burgers were really spectacular as is.

Accompanying was Belgian-style (twice fried) truffle fries cooked golden well-done. I made a tartar sauce for the fries, using mayo, sweet pickle relish, preserved lemon, shallot, and vinegar.

I thought I should post an entry listing some of my regular and favorite suppliers for the high quality ingredients that I am lucky to be able to cook with. Some of the items are more difficult to find, so hopefully the list below will be helpful.

• Almost all of my regular grocery shopping is done at Central Market in Shoreline. Owned by Town & Country Markets, they also have locations in Ballard, Greenwood, Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island, and Mill Creek. They have high quality produce and decent prices on non-meat items. Great cheese, beer, and wine selection.
• H-Mart in Lynnwood recently opened and has some of the highest quality meat I have found locally. They carry Wagyu beef, but even their regular beef is more marbled than you will get anywhere else. The prices also cannot be beat. The produce is also fresh and inexpensive, and you can’t beat a store with a dedicated kimchi bar.
• A&J’s Meats and Seafood on Queen Anne always has nice marrow bones, both plain and smoked. Something other butchers have not been willing to do for me, they will cut the bones lengthwise for for easy marrow extraction.
• Butcher & Packer is where I order my pink salt, dextrose, and other curing/charcuterie supplies from.
• Costco is where I buy my short ribs, which are often ground into hamburger.
• B&E Meats is the supplier for the meat I use in my pastrami. They are the only butcher I have found in western Washington that can get beef plate. Maybe I shouldn’t mention them here in case you all decide to start buying up all of my beef plate.
• Garagiste Wine is an amazing source for rare and unique wines, as long as you can deal with their email offer/ordering system. For all other wine, I use Central Market and McCarthy & Schiering.

Whether you call them summer rolls, fresh spring rolls, or the Vietnamese name gỏi cuốn, these have always been a childhood favorite of mine. When I was little, my mom would roll these for me, since I always ripped the delicate rice paper. Even today, I can’t get mine to be as even and as tightly rolled as she can does.

The filling for these always includes a bit of lettuce, cucumber, rice noodles, some sort of herb, and almost always pork, shrimp, or both. When I visited southern California last year, I stopped at a restaurant best known for their rolls, Brodard in Garden Grove. They fill theirs with a housemade grilled pork sausage and include a rolled and fried wonton wrapper for added crunch and flavor. I think we must have ordered at least five plates of the rolls at Brodard, and I had no problem finishing them.

The gỏi cuốn I made tonight had basic boiled and sliced pork inside. I made up a quick hoisin-peanut sauce along with the ubiquitous Vietnamese nước chấm, a garlicy dipping sauce with a nearly perfect balance of sweet, salty, sour, and spicy.